5 Clubs and 4 Diamonds

With 5  and 4 , you would never open 1. But, with 5  and 4 , you will often open 1. Why? Suppose you open 1 with this hand:  4  KJ2 AJ43 A7642. Your partner responds 1. Now what? You are stuck. You don't want to rebid 1NT with a singleton. You can't reverse into diamonds with a minimum hand. You don't want to rebid that ratty club suit. The solution is to open 1 and rebid 2. Partner won't know you have more clubs than diamonds, but at least you have found a way to show both minors. Will you always open 1 with 4 and 5? Not at all. In this quiz, we will reveal more within each question and answer.

Find the Error

Bridge is a game of errors. Avoiding obvious mistakes is much more important than learning fancy new conventions. In this quiz, each problem contains a major bidding error. Your job is to spot the error and vote for it.

Game Tries

After we open 1 or 1 and partner raises to 2, what should we do? We should add at least a point to our original evaluation, because our 5+ card suit is now worth more. For example, K10765 might not be worth much opposite a singleton, but knowing partner has support (picture QJx), means we have lots of tricks in our suit. With a re-evaluated strength of less than 16, game is unlikely (facing at most 9 or a so-so 10). With about 16-18 in strength, we want to invite game. This is done by bidding a new suit (typically something like Axxx or Q10x -- where you want partner to evaluate his cards in that suit to help with marginal decisions). A re-raise (1-2-3) should just be a blocking bid--based on the LAW of Total Tricks--not invitational. With more than 18, opener just bids game (no need to give away extraneous information). What if the opponents interfere after the raise? After 1 (Pass) 2 (3), opener can bid 3 just to compete (not invitational). To invite game, he has to bid a new suit (in this case, the only try is 3--and says nothing about hearts). What if the opponents overcall in the suit one below opener's? For example: 1 (2) 2 (3) ?  In this case, 3 is needed as just competing for the partscore (not inviting game). If opener wants to invite, the partnership has to use "Game-Try Doubles"(also called "Maximal Doubles") -- whereby double of the suit 1-under is not penalty, but invites game. In all cases above, responder would bid game with about 9-10 and reject with about 6-7. In between hands require judgment.

Opener's Rebid with a Strong Hand After a 1-Level Response

Opener opens in a suit and his partner responds on the 1-level. When Opener has a strong hand (16+), these are the choices: 1) Rebid 2NT = 18-19 balanced 2) Reverse (a 2-level bid in a suit higher than opener's first suit) = 17+ (Forcing 1 round but not to game) 3) Jump-Raise (Jump to 3=16-18 in support and jump to 4 = 19+ in support) 4) Jump Rebid = 16-18 counting shape and a 6+ card suit 5) Jump Shift = Natural and Forcing to Game 6) Jump to 3NT = Strong hand, typically a long running suit. If that's not enough to overwhelm you, note that occasionally opener won't do any of the above. 1-1-2, for example (opener's new suit) can occasionally be bid with quite a good hand, just short of a jump-shift. For example, opener would produce that auction with this 17-count: 

 5  
 A8765  
 AKJ  
 AJ42.